


A Warm Welcome

by Darazelly



Series: A Collection of Moments [10]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: But before Trespasser, F/M, Meet the Family, Mentioned Dorian/Bull, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4957654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darazelly/pseuds/Darazelly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Corypheus defeated, Inquisitor Lavellan have time to make a visit to South Reach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Warm Welcome

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble thing. Might continue with smaller one-shots later if the ideas comes to me.

The fog lay thick over the landscape, blanketing her surroundings so well that she could barely see thirty meters ahead of her. The dirt road winded on between the fields, with low stonewalls on either side of it. Every once in a while she’d hear voices yelling, farmers and herders calling back and forth, most likely preparing to go home for the day.

“The road by the big oak, he said…” Her courser’s ears flicked at her quiet murmur, and she absently leaned forward to pat him on the neck. They’d been on the road for several days now, riding south from Denerim. It’d be a relief to finally get to her destination, provided that the directions she had received from a passing sheepherder was correct.

Finally, a large dark shape became visible ahead, and as she drew nearer, a big oak tree came into view. And by it, a smaller road did indeed split off from the main road.

As she rode up it, she thought she heard a familiar voice yell somewhere in the mist, her head instantly turning in the direction of it. Nonsense, she thought, and urged Revas onwards. It was just her imagination. “Come on, Revas,” she mumbled to her horse, “we’re almost there.” Hopefully.

After a few more nervous minutes, she reached a chest high stone wall, with a gate barring the road. Her stomach was in knots when she slid down from her saddle and walked up to it. Beyond, she thought she could make out the vague outline of a building. Or maybe it was trees? Swallowing around the lump in her throat, she unlatched the gate and gave it a push. It swung open on well-oiled hinges with barely a sound. She led her horse through the gap before closing it once more, making sure to secure the latch.

Elshira wet her lips, pausing for a moment to clutch at the reins before she started up the gravel road once more. Two houses came into view, crafted from wooden beams with grass thatch as roof. Around the yard ran a waist high fence, and behind the smaller house to the side, she could make out some larger structure, perhaps a barn.

In the fog the empty yard was almost eerie with not a living soul to be heard or seen. Had she made a wrong turn somewhere? Had she even been given the right directions? Creators, her hair were a mess from sleeping at the roadside and travelling in the humid air.

Just as she ran a hand through her shoulder length hair in a vain attempt to tame the frizzy strands, she heard someone come running.

“Eli!”

A smile broke out on her lips at the sight of Cullen running up a small pathway leading to the back of the side building. In his hurry, he opted to leaping over the fence instead of opening the small gate.

“Cullen,” she breathed as she let go of the reins and took a few steps towards him. Cullen ran the last distance and then she was enveloped in his tight embrace as he lifted her up from the ground and swung her around. Laughing, she clung to his shoulders until he put her back down on the ground. His fingers tangled in her hair, a strong arm still securely wound around her waist as he pressed his forehead against hers.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to meet you, I was out in the fields with Mia’s husband and Branson, and there was a tree stump and…” He paused to draw a deep breath, evidently a bit winded from the sprint. 

She laughed softly, caressing his cheeks. “Breathe, ma’arlath, breathe.”

He chuckled, nuzzling his nose against hers. “We didn’t see you come up the road with this Maker damned fog.” With a small, soft sigh, his fingers caressed the back of her neck. “Eileen spotted you coming through the gate and came down and told us.”

“It’s alright,” she laughed and tilted her head up enough to give him a small kiss. “I’m sorry I’m so late, the rain delayed me.”

Cullen made a low, content noise at the back of his throat. “But you’re here now,” he murmured before he chased after her, catching her lips in a firm kiss. It’d been over a week since they’d last seen each other. Sighing, she melted into his embrace, her nervousness slowly sinking away. She wasn’t sure for how long they stood there, lost to their kiss, before a resounding ‘ewww’ made it clear that they were not alone anymore.

When they broke apart, Cullen looked at someone behind her. “Hey, didn’t Mia tell you to feed the chickens and geese?”

Elshira turned around to see three children, two boys with wild, blonde, curly hair and girl with darker, wavier hair. Each of the boys was holding a bucket, the oldest boy levelling Cullen with a smug look.

“We already have.”

The little girl moved a little to partly hide behind the older boy, shyly staring at Elshira with huge, curious eyes while absently tugging at her hair.

Elshira smiled and gave the children a little wave. So, these must be Cullen’s nephews and niece. But before anyone could say anything else though, the door to the house was flung open and everyone turned to look at the willowy woman standing in the opening.

“Oh!” She exclaimed and raised a hand to her mouth at the sight of Elshira, her warm brown eyes going wide. “Oh! Oh, Mia, she’s here!”

“Rosalie…” Cullen began, but cut himself short at the appearance of another woman in the doorframe. She was tall, broader in the shoulders and build than her sister, with sharp, hazel colored eyes.

A wide smile broke out on her face. “Well, finally! Welcome! You arrived just in time for dinner!”

“Is that the Inquisitor?” The smaller of the two boys gaped. “I thought she’d be taller.”

“Can we see the mark!?”

“Logan, Edric, you can ask her questions when she’s had a chance to rest!,” Rosalie interrupted them with a stern look. “Now, help your uncle take care of her horse!”

While the boys responded with a dejected “Yes mom” Cullen gave Elshira a small nudge. “Here, let me take your sword,” he whispered. Quickly, she unbuckled the weapon from her waist and handed it to him. He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before taking Revas’ reins and starting off back the way he’d come, herding his nephews before him.

Elshira couldn’t help but smile a little as the two boys excited chatter about knights and swordplay drifted over, their voices full of the idealistic wonder of children who have not faced the horrors of combat.

“Come on dear, you must be tired,” Mia called out and beckoned her to follow her and Rosalie inside. “Eileen, did you find any eggs?” The little girl nodded and hurried up to Mia with her small straw basket. With a last glance after Cullen, Elshira followed the two sisters, just pausing inside the door to tug off her muddy boots while Rosalie took care of her cloak.

The inside of the house felt homely, with colorful rag mats covering the wood floor and the occasional painted wood-panel hanging on the walls, mostly featuring the usual Fereldan motifs of mabaris, but also flowers and various other animals. The smell of food hang thick in the air, reminding her of how long it’d been since she’d eaten something.

“I swear, Cullen have been pacing about like a locked up animal for the past couple of days,” Mia mused when Elshira stepped into the warm kitchen. A pot hung over the hearth, but Mia nudged it to the side to also hang up a teakettle, and then took her damp cloak from Rosalie and hung it up on an iron hook on the wall. “He feared you’d been attacked or gotten lost.”

“I got delayed due to the rainstorm,” Elshira replied as she lingered uncertainly by the doorway until Rosalie motioned to the kitchen table with a smile. “It made a river overflow so I had to ride around to another crossing place.” Curiously, she glanced around the kitchen as she sat down on the bench by the table.

Bushels of dried herbs hung from the roof beams, the shelves on the walls lined with ceramic jars, woven baskets and flasks. An orange cat, its stomach swollen from pregnancy, raised its head to regard her before settling back down to snooze in the warmth from the hearth. Eileen sat close by it, playing with a ragdoll. Next to her, she spotted one of Krem’s winged stuffed nugs. So she had seen right when she spied one amongst Cullen’s bags the night before he left, despite how preoccupied she’d been with the man himself.

Rosalie sat down on the other side of the table and picked up her discarded knitting. “We suspected as much.”

Mia’s laughter was warm and low, “Not that it stopped him from considering taking his horse and ride out to see if he could meet you on the road.”

At the knowing look Mia gave her, a warm blush spread on Elshira’s cheeks. “He’s used to me travelling with my companions, I assume. Even though I’ve spent weeks in the woods on my own since I was young.”

“Maker, I can’t imagine doing that,” Rosalie said with a small laugh, looking up from her knitting. “I’d be lost and starving after a day.”

Mia chuckled. “It must be quite a change from life with your clan. Cullen mentioned in a letter that they’re in Wycome right now, yes?”

Laughing, Elshira nodded. “Yes, it took a while to get used to… everything. And yes, they are. They’ve set up a city council along with some human merchants and city elves. Hopefully it will work out; we don’t mingle much with humans.”

“I saw an elf like you in town once.” At the sudden sound of the small voice, all three of them turned to look at Eileen. The small girl blushed and returned to playing with her ragdoll, stealing shy glances at Elshira. “He too had pretty patterns painted on his face.”

Smiling, Elshira turned more towards Eileen. “May have been a hunter passing through to trade. We rely on fur trade mainly to get things we can’t provide ourselves.”

The little girl looked up and nodded eagerly. “Yes, he had many furs with him!” Then the shy look returned and she glanced down while fiddling with her doll. “Nan told me they take little girls. But he seemed nice.”

Mia scoffed. “Don’t listen to all what the old bat tells you.”

Rosalie laughed softly, and Elshira raised her eyebrows in silent question.

“I apologize, my husband’s grandmother is a tad…” Mia trailed off as she sat down by the short end of the table, scrunching up her face in a grimace.

“Don’t worry, it’s alright.” Turning back to Eileen with a comforting smile, Elshira continued, “And we don’t take any children. My people keep to ourselves, and unfortunately some people think we are bad because we live as we do.”

Eileen frowned. “Well that’s stupid,” she declared with all the innocent acceptance of a seven year old. A sudden pang of sadness made its way into Elshira’s chest. She missed her own niece so much.

“Why do you paint your face?”

“Eileen!” Mia exclaimed. “Don’t be impolite!”

“Sorry mama…”

“It’s alright, really,” Elshira interjected with a smile and glance at Mia and Rosalie. “It’s good to ask questions.”

At the encouragement, Eileen got up and climbed up onto the bench Elshira was sitting on, her ragdoll and stuffed nug hugged close to her chest. “They’re pretty,” she exclaimed while looking up at the thin branches that sprawled up from the bridge of her nose and cheekbones to cover her forehead and temples.

With a small laugh, Elshira nodded. “They’re called vallaslin, when we come of age, our keeper, the clan leader, gives us them. They’re a sign that we’re adults.”

Eileen’s eyes went wide. “So they’re like that forever?” Then she pursed her lips in a thoughtful frown. “But why is yours different from the elf I saw?”

Elshira hesitated, glancing up at Mia. “It’s ah…” Would it be inappropriate for her to speak of the Creators? The conflicting feelings she’d struggled with since the Temple of Mythal bubbled up to the surface, rising like a bad, choking taste at the back of her throat. The angry voice of Asha’belannar echoed in the back of her mind, ‘She was betrayed, as I was betrayed.’

“They represent… important values to us.” At the sight of the curious, wide-eyed look on the little girl’s face, Elshira shoved down the unpleasant doubts and questions for a later time. “Mine stands for Mythal, the mother and great protector.” A protector whom had been murdered, left to cling to this world in a human woman’s body.

Eileen made a soft ‘ooh’ noise.

They all turned towards the kitchen door at the sound of footsteps, and Cullen soon came into view. A small smile spread on his lips as he made his way over to sit on the other side of her on the bench. His hand brushed against the small of her back in a comforting gesture. “I took your bags to the guestroom.”

“Thank you, ma vhenan,” she murmured and gave him a soft smile while leaning into him.

Neither of them noticed the happy look Mia and Rosalie exchanged. They passed the rest of the hour with casual talk about the Inquisition and the families of each of the siblings. After a little while, Branson and Mia’s husband Jon came in through the door with a wide smiles and hearty welcomes, shaking her hand over the table with the firm, callused grips of someone used to working the land for a living.

The family resemblance was strong between Cullen and his younger brother. Branson was a little shorter and leaner, and clearly with a far more outgoing personality, quickly jesting about the speed which Cullen had taken off with. “Left us there with that Maker damned tree stump!”

Mia’s husband had wild, red hair and a neatly cropped beard that Mia gave a light tug to as he sat down next to her, grinning as he kissed her.

The kitchen soon erupted in cheerful chatter, stories and discussions about the future being traded back and forth while Mia prepared dinner. Every once in a while, the four siblings fell into a kind of lighthearted bickering that she had a feeling echoed their squabbling from when they were young. Elshira watched them in quiet amusement, noticing that Jon did the same.

Mia reminded her a lot of Cullen, tall and fierce, protective and with the same stubborn, competitive streak as her brother. By contrast Rosalie was quieter, softer with her words and demeanor, but Elshira had a feeling that the smaller woman would give as good as her siblings if pressed. But most of all, she watched Cullen, how quick and relaxed his smile was, the teasing looks and jabs he exchanged with the others. It was hard to stifle her giggle at his chagrined expression and red cheeks whenever someone recounted an embarrassing childhood story, be it about that time an angry goat chased him and Branson around the yard of their parents’ homestead, or when he’d spent an entire market day hiding behind his mother’s skirts due to several of the girls in town had been determined to kiss him on the cheek by the day’s end.

While Jon set the table, Rosalie briefly disappeared off to call in her sons for dinner.

“Careful, they’ll demand to know every single detail of those dragons you took down,” Cullen murmured into her ear.

True enough; the boys spent most of dinner asking questions about dragons, demons and Darkspawn, their eyes going wide when she told them of the rift in Crestwood, of the haunted house they had found in the Emerald Graves and the Tevinter laboratory that had frozen in time in the Western Approach. They wanted to know all that she could tell them about Alistair, Leliana and Hawke, and whether it was true she’d traveled with a qunari and a Tevinter magister. She tried to correct them on the nature of Dorian’s class in Tevinter, but it fell on deaf ears as the boys was already arguing over who that was the qunari invader, and who was the soon-to-be-defeated Tevinter mage. 

“Should I have told them that Bull and Dorian are together?” she murmured to Cullen as the two boys bustled outside again after thanking ‘Auntie Mia’ for the food.

Cullen’s low chuckle tickled her ear. “Don’t think it would have mattered.”

But, with the two boys gone, so was much of the light-hearted tone of the conversation. Elieen just sat quietly in Mia's knee and listened with big eyes while hugging her doll and nug. Elshira didn't mind the questions that much, it was unavoidable since she could give firsthand accounts of things Cullen had not been present for.

“You mean he raised the remains of the Temple of Sacred Ashes into the air? Just like that?” Rosalie asked quietly, the fearful awe evident in her voice.

Elshira nodded. “Since our soldiers were still returning from the Arbor Wilds, we could only take a small force with us.” Under the table, Cullen gripped her hand tightly, his thumb stroking small comforting circles against hers. She turned her head to give him a small smile before turning back to the others. “We had an ally, a mage, who could distract his dragon, and she managed to weaken it enough for us to kill it. After that, we could finally defeat Corypheus.”

“Must’ve been quite the feat for a mage,” Mia said with a small, thoughtful crease between her eyebrows.

Despite the grave subject, Elshira chuckled at the memory of Morrigan’s dragon form and the awe inspiring sight of her shifting into it for the first time. “She was anything but a normal mage.”

“But what happened to Corypheus? Did you just leave his body there? Burn it?” Jon asked with a frown. “If he was a darkspawn, he could’ve spread the Blight.”

“We disposed of him,” she assured him. As disposed of as one could be in the Fade.

They kept talking for another hour, until a sleepy Eileen was put to bed by Mia, and Branson announced that he better make his way home.

“My lady Inquisitor,” he declared with an overdone bow. “It was my outmost honor to finally meet you, and see that you weren’t just a hazy dream my beloved brother had conjured up. Lovely enough to be one though.” He grinned in the face of Cullen’s glare. “I’ll make sure to bring Lovya and the kids over while you’re here. The little ones have been quite eager to meet you both.”

“It was a pleasure to meet you Branson,” she laughed and gave a small wave as he disappeared out of the kitchen after giving his sisters each a kiss to their cheeks. Jon walked him out, saying he’d get the animals in for the night.

Meanwhile, Cullen and Elshira began picking off the table while Mia prepared the dishwater and Rosalie disappeared to find her sons and get them to bed.

“Do you want my help with anything?” Elshira asked Mia while giving her a stack of plates, which Mia placed in the basin.

“No, you take it easy, dear,” Mia responded with a reassuring smile. “Cullen, why don’t you show her around the farm before you lose the last daylight?”

Cullen handed his sister a few mugs and cutlery, then turned to Elshira. “Do you want to?”

Elshira gave him a smile and a nod. “That sounds lovely, ma vhenan.”

They slunk out of the kitchen and stepped back out into the chilly late-summer air.

“Your siblings are wonderful,” she commented.

Cullen’s hand found hers, and they wove their fingers together as they slowly walked across the yard towards the second building. “They like you.”

“Luckily,” she laughed. Truthfully, the pit in her stomach was still there, terrified that she’d say or do something wrong and insult them. Her brother had, after all, not been particularly happy to hear about Cullen. Sleeping with a shem, loving one… It was frowned upon in all clans.

His fingers squeezed hers in reassurance as they paused so he could open the small gate for her. “Hey, you have nothing to worry about.” 

“We seem to keep telling each other that,” she chuckled and glanced up at him, “yet we both worry all the same.”

Cullen raised a hand to scratch at the back of his neck with a chuckle of his own. “I guess we do.” 

They strolled around the secondary building, which contained the guestroom as well as a storage room he told her, and down along the pathway he’d come running up before. Ahead of them, the barn lay, and beyond it a large open field opened up. In a small pasture their horses were grazing peacefully alongside a big, sturdy workhorse that looked like it could carry Iron Bull with little problem. In the distance she could hear the soft bleating of sheep and whom she assumed was Jon getting them inside for the night.

The group of chickens that pecked away at the ground scattered before them with indignant clucks.

“This place is beautiful.”

Cullen made a quiet noise of agreement. “I had forgotten how peaceful farms get.”

When they got closer to the pasture, their horses perked up and came walking over to the fence. “Do you ever miss this life?” she asked while scratching Revas on the white mark between his eyes.

Dane, Cullen’s large, relatively young, fereldan courser, sniffed at his owner, obviously looking for any hidden treats. Cullen firmly reprimanded the large horse, who puffed out his breath in an almost indignant manner. “Eileen keep sneaking him carrots,” he muttered. Elshira glanced at him, and saw the familiar thoughtful wrinkle between his eyebrows. “I guess I do, although my memories are vague.”

Then he glanced up at the clear evening sky. With a smile, he took her hand again and led her further down the path. “Come.”

They cut across one of the fields and into a small gathering of trees. “Careful, the ground’s wet.”

“Not the first slippery forest path I’ve traversed, Cullen,” she chuckled. When they came out on the other side of the trees, the beautiful sight of the sunset casting its last rays of sunshine onto the sprawling farmlands stole her breath away. Small pockets of mist still lingered in the dips and valleys of the countryside. Cullen stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. With a content smile she leaned back against him and watched the setting sun.

But, in the calm of the moment, her thought strayed.

“Cullen… do you ever think of the future?”

Cullen looked down at her with a thoughtful expression. “A bit. There’s still so much to be dealt with that I hadn’t…” A soft affectionate look entered his gaze, his smile turning wistful.

Blushing, she turned around in his embrace to see him better.

“Why do you ask?”

She toyed with the lacing at the neckline of his tunic while contemplating how to answer. “Mother Giselle once told me that what she admired the most about the original Inquisition was that they laid down their swords when their task was done.”

“And you agree with her?” 

There was no hard edge in his voice, just a gentle curiosity. Tilting her head to the side, she looked up at him and met his warm, brown eyes. It was so different to see him like this, his hair not as carefully tamed as back in Skyhold, the simple clothing fit for work out in the field and no armor or sword. Different, softer, but the same strength was still there, the dedication and determination to whatever task he had before him.

“I never asked for this role Cullen. Corypheus is dead, yes, and the Inquisition is, for now, still needed. And I will do what is required of me, but one day… one day the Inquisition won’t be needed anymore and I won’t try to cling to what power I have when that day comes.”

He nodded and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead before hugging her close. Elshira wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek against his shoulder with a soft sigh.

“I understand.”

Relief filled her body. “You don’t object?”

“Maker’s breath, no.” He hesitated for a moment, and she saw the apple at his throat bob when he swallowed. “I can’t say that the thought of… a private, more peaceful life after this is all that bad.” He pressed a kiss to her hair.

“You sure you’d survive without having recruits to yell at and messengers coming and going all day?”

“I think I can find a way to manage,” he chuckled. “Especially if it means I can be with you without rules and obligations getting in the way.”

Smiling, she cupped his face, regarding him for a short second before she rose up on her toes and kissed him. Cullen’s arms grew tighter around her, hugging her closer as if even the smallest space between them was too much to bear. They stood there, lost to each other and the firm, gentle kiss, as the sun slowly set at the horizon and the stars came forth to greet the twin moons.

Whatever the future brought, that thought of a life where they weren’t tied up by rules and obligations was small and shimmering like one of the stars in the sky. And yet it felt all the closer with the threat of Corypheus dealt with.

A home for just the two of them.


End file.
